fairytailfanonfandomcom-20200222-history
Next Target: Enter Mudwater Fields
Introduction The stars were seen high and bright over the sky, twinkling all over as each one gave an appearance of a single crystal, only far away. After defeating the first beast and returning back to the village, the group was given a festival to celebrate their triumpth, which lasted till the moon was high. Everyone had returned to their homes, happy and full that the terror wasn't going to harm them any longer, as in one of the hotel rooms, Minerva and her group were resting their wounds and enjoying their full stomachs. Minerva groaned as she slowly stood up to go outside from some fresh air. Walking towards the river, she suddenly felt another presence with every step she took. Turning, she saw Leo was following behind her, though he hadn't seen her yet. He seemed preoccupied with the back ally's of the town. "Leo? What are you doing out of bed?" Minerva said as she walked towards him to make sure his wounds weren't in any danger of reopening. Surprised to see her, Leo quickly turned his attention to Minerva. "Oh, just testing a theory I had, that and Shelly lost her bag somewhere." he said while looking back down another ally. "Huh, you'd think she would be more aware of something that has some of the very things she needs to make sure she can do magic" Minerva said as she and Leo began their search for his sister's bag throughtout the alley and where the festival was held. "Well, she can still use Solid Script Magic." Leo said while looking around, "And she's never really learned to keep her guard up. She doesn't really like fighting." Just as he finished, they came to a larger road with several things laying around, discarded by people at the party. "Then I wouldn't have expected her to become a mage or you, I do not mean any offense, you can handle yourself and your sister too, but it seems big for people your age" Minerva said turning over some of the stuff from the floor to keep looking for the bag. "Magic doesn't always have to mean combat." Leo said, brushing aside garbage with his foot. "Though you wouldn't know it looking at our guild." Laughing at his own comment, he turned and spotted Shelly's bag hanging on a railing near the end of the street. "True, before I was nothing but the person who wanted to be the strongest, especially when it came to my guild, and it was that kind of thinking that made me fail at being good. Though after joining my new guild and meeting your's, it's amazing how much I changed" She said handing the bag over to Leo. Swinging the bag over his shoulder, Leo tried to comfort her, "People can change, one of our S-Class mages was once a powerful criminal. You might meet him when we get back." Turning, Leo began to walk back to the hotel. "It's getting late, let's turn in for the night." Minerva nodded as the duo began their walk back to the hotel for another couple hours of sleep, but not before she felt another strong presence, hiding itself expertly. Though her initial instinct was that it was friendly, she couldn't help but wonder who this person was, and how long were they following. ---- After that night, the group set out for Telmire Swamp, the location of their next target. After three days travel, they arrived in a boatyard on the edge of the swamp, seemingly part dock and part market. Every other person was offering ether some form of goods, or a ferry service into the swamp. This time the mages decided to ask for information on there target before doing anything else. Looking around, Leo spotted the ferry that took people from there to Treetop town. "Think they'll let us borrow that?" He joked, making the others laugh. "Yes, this time we must be more careful, we need to know everything we can" Minerva said as they walked towards one of the nearby fisherman. "Excuse us sir, but you wouldn't happen to know anything about the beast that lives in this terrain do you?" Looking up from working on a fishing net he said, "That'll probably be Shimma, poor girl finally annoyed one to many people did she?" Everyone was surprised, this thing they where suppose to be hunting was a local legend? "You named it?" Shelly asked. "Well yeah, the thing was practically a town pet till a few years ago." He said, though his expression changed as he stood up. "Then the thing got to big and have to move out to deeper water." "Hmm, if that's the case, then there must be something more going on than this mission lead to believe" Minerva said as she grabbed it and reviewed the request to find some idea of what could be different. "How did all of this start? I mean, did she just decided to act out of nowhere or did something trigger it" Freeda said as she stepped in for Minerva, who was busy trying to figure this stuation out. Scratching his head, the fisherman thought about it for a second. "Well, as for how she got here, I think she's a fish from the ocean, but they can't really get in this deep because of all the trees. I think she road in on a boat and got dumped here." then he jumped onto a boat and began to sort through through a lunchbox. then he stood up and handed Freeda an old news cliping. "As for why she's attacking people, I'd bet it's because she's runing out of food in the swamp." Looking over Freeda's sholder, Shelly saw a picture of a bunch of people gatherd aroiund somthing in the water. everyone seemed to be having a good time. "It dosn't look that dangerous." she said. "Looks will always seem decieveing, especially in cases like this, do you know if there's anyone who might be willing to let take us where we need to go?" Minerva said as gave the request back to Leo. Sighing, the fisherman looked out at the swamp, then back to the group. "Well, I could take you out there, but there's no real way to track the thing in the swamp, waters to murky." "That'll work." Leo said, "But are you sure you want to take the risk?" looking at the fishing boat floating in the water. He began to question whether it could get them into the swamp at all. "I'm the one who found the thing, I might as well be the one who sends it off." he said as he began to load the nets back onto the boat. "He seems sadden about all this" Freeda said as she looked over at the man still loading up with his ship with supplies to hunt down the monster. "He feels compassion for the beast, meaning he may not be the best choice for this task, but he's the only one who can lead us to them" Minerva said as she went over to the boat, throwing another net onto the ship, "Do you require assistance?" "Yeah, you guys untie the mooring lines and I'll have us out in 5 minuets." The fishermen said, pointing to the ropes holding the boat to the shore. As all of them got the boat ready to launch, Shelly had a thought "Do we really need to kill it?" But she kept it to herself as they boarded the boat and headed into the swamp. ---- The trip towards the center of the swamp was long and hard, not due to the fact that in most turns there was some form of beast wanting to eat the boat, but due to the fact that if they didn't kill them, the blistering sun and hungry insects would. The sun was at high noon as the group had changed their clothes to better accommodate their surroundings. "Huh, I've experianced almost every natural disaster known to man, and yet, this is somehow more devastating than all of them put together" Minerva said as she was now dressed in her swim wear without the long gloves covering her arms. "How could anyone live in this horrible heat??" Freeda said whiningly as she was in similar clothing to Minerva except that they were red and she wore a skirt instead of shorts. Squating down infront of a fan she created, Shelly said "Well, for some people it's a daily thing." having only removed her vest, she didn't seem to be suffering as much as the others. Leo was standing near the railing. Having removed his sweeter, he was wearing a black and red muscle shirt. Looking up at the fisherman he called, "You sure this is the right way?" "The deepest waters are not far from here." He said, not taking his eyes off ther path in front of him. "Shimma can't survive in the shallows." "I see, in that case, we have sometime to try and figure out how we are going to catch this beast. Obviously me and Sheely are going to have some difficulty, my magic doesn't work unless I can see the object and her Pict Magic won't work if the paper isn't water proof" Minerva said as she started to try and see what their plan of attack will be. "In this case, my magic might be well for this situation, I can absorb and become water myself, giving me an edge to fight the beast" Freeda said with a smile. "And i can fly." Leo added, "if all else fails, we could climb the trees." pointing up to the forest canopy. "So we're really going to kill it?" Shelly asked without turning away from her fan. Causing the others to pause for a second to contemplate there options. "If this beast would be hungry again, how dangerous could it really be?" Minerva asked the driver as they all turned in anticipation to await the results. Thinking for a second, the fisherman said, "As dangerous as any hungry animal mite be, but i doubt we're in any danger. All the boats she hit where shiping goods, so she was probably after the food inside." Exited by his words, Shelly piped up and said "So she's friendly then, right?" She was ecstatic there was even a chance that they didn't have to kill Shimma. "Though it is strange that they would want this beast to be killed..." Minerva said as she leaned over the side of the boat. "Something else is going on, something they don't want us to know" Freeda said drinking water from the canteen. "Or they just don't care." Leo said crossing his arms. Looking out at the trees he continued, "I really don't think the Magic counsel would have dug into this that much. as long as the problems solved, I doubt they'll complain." "Then for now we don't assume anything until we reach the spot, stun attacks on her and that's it. We capture her and make sure that she doesn't cause anymore trouble, and if she won't listen then we do what we must understood?" Minerva said as she looked at them. "I understand Minerva" Freeda said nodding. "Yeah, i got it." Leo said, while Shelly silently nodded, still not convinced a lethal approach was the right one. "Alright, this is the deepest part of the swamp." The Fisherman called from the front of the boat. Stopping the engine, it slowly costed to a stop. Everyone keeping an eye out for any sign of movement. However the only sound they heard was the buzzing of insects. The fisherman jumped down and reached into a box siting on deck, pulled out a fish and tossed it into the water. there was a small disturbance in the water, then a large black shape appeared under the water and began to circle the boat. "Looks like she found use, Freeda and Leo, get ready should anything happen, Shelly you stay close to my side under stood" Minerva said as they nodded and got into form. The dark shape kept circling the ship as Freeda and Leo both had the nets in their hands, waiting for it to make the first move or appear before them. After a few seconds, a giant figure emerged, jumping clean over the ship and landing on the other side, splashing water on the entire ship. "Did anyone see it?" Leo said, wiping water out of his face. Looking around to see if everyone was ok, he looked at the fisherman "Was that it?" Looking out at where the fish had landed, the Fisherman said, "Yeah, thats her alright. seems she's lost some weight." Shaking out her hair, Shelly said, "She lost Weight? What does that mean?" Quickly looking out at the water for the shadow, trying to see for herself whether or not Shimma looked sick. Minerva saw that the beast was turning around to aim at the ship once again, "It's coming from the Port side, Freeda, Leo get ready with the net!!" She yelled as they nodded and held the net. Both Freeda and Leo waited for the right moment to swing the net at the beast as they saw the shadow of the draw closer and closer to the ship, but right before it could completely reach the ship, it disappeared under the lake. The two silently waited, trying to sense where the beast would be, and quickly reacted as it jumped on the other side, wrapping the net around it. While the net missed it's target, the Beast's tail was caught in a part of the net, pulling it over the boat. It hit the deck with a loud thud, jarring the entire boat under it's weight, sending everyone on deck to there knees. With a single thrash it jumped over the side, back to the water, dragging the net with it. Agitated, Leo stood up, helping his sister and Freeda up as well, "So anyone have a backup plan?" looking out for the beast again. "Because I don't think we can go without attacking it for much longer." Flustered by her brothers words, Shelly tried to find another solution. "B-but we can't just kill her, she doesn't want to hurt anyone." Though despite her words, Shelly realized that Leo was right. "The boat can't take too many more impacts like the last one, we need to decide on something before that happens." Leo said coldly. Freeda and Minerva said nothing, but they both knew that, if it came to it, it had to be Shimma and not them. Panicking, Shelly desperately tried to think of some way to save the beast. Every course of action she thought of led to the same end, ether the boat would sink, or Shimma would die. Looking at the dark spot in the water she screamed in frustration "If only you'd had gone back to the Ocean!" surprising the others. As if hearing her, the beast slowly emerged from the water, only showing it's eyes as it glared at the others, but had a soft look on Sheely. Minerva looked at the two, realizing what the beast really wanted. "You're right Sheely, I think I understand now, she's attacking because she's trying to find someone to take her out to sea" She said looking at the beast as it continued to study them. "If that's the case, then isn't there anything we can do?" Freeda asked while Minerva started to think of options to help the beast. The fisherman spoke up, seemingly happy that an alternitive had been found. "Well, this is a fishing boat." His comment made the 3 older mages look at each other dumbly, confused as to how they could had overlooked such an obvious solution. Minerva realized what he was suggesting and turned over to her group, "Alright, at this point our only option to get Shimma to the ocean, and to do that will require all of us working together. The murky swamp is gonna make it difficult for the ship to move past, Freeda and Leo I want you two to clear the path so the captain can drive. And Sheely, I need you to lure her to the net and make sure she gets in it" Minerva said as they nodded and went to do their assignments. Leo jumped around the bow of the ship, scanning in front of him, there was vary few paths a boat this size could go through. "We'll have to make our own path then, Celestial Rings." he said, as a magic circle appeared below him. Light formed into thin disks in his hands, and began to make a dull humming sound. raising his hands, the disks flew forward and began slicing the trees apart, creating a path for the fisherman. near the back of the boat, Shelly had gathered some fish and was dangling them over the side to attract Shimma's attention. "Come on Shimma, we're here to help." she said gently, trying to encourage her to follow. Freeda merged with her Familiar into her light form as she jumped into and absorbed the water around her. Doing this, she was able to pull away any remaning debris that could stop them, then Freeda turned to find that Shimma was with Sheely as she was petting her and wrapping the net like a leash for her. "Alright Minerva, I think we're all set Freeda said as she helped Leo into the boat. "Alright then, we need to hurry, if people find out that we're releasing the beast, it will not only brand you as traitor's but you're guild will also suffer" She said nodding as the captian pushed forward with the beast following along. "We get enough bad press as it is, i don't think this will stick out to much." Leo said grinning, walking to the back of the boat to check on Shelly, "What was that guild from Fiore called? Fairy something? Anyways, we're like them." Laughing Shelly said "I think you mean Fairy Tail Leo. The guild that's always braking stuff." looking back to Shimma, she smiled. "I think we're a little more cautious than that." "Either way, be careful, keep it moving" Minerva said as she helped out by using her magic to move away some of the rubble still in her path. The group kept pushing forward the best they can until they reached a boarder of sorts with a river leading straight into the ocean. "It would seem the only way for her to be saved is for you to use your magic Minerva" Freeda said as she nodded and used her War God Magic to surround Shimma. As the light glowed, Shimma looked into Sheely's eyes, as if she was trying to say thank you. The switch was successful as Shimma had been switched with a giant rock, leaving Minerva drained as she fell to her knees with the group checking to see if she was okay. The sound of splashing water could be heard in the distence, the group looked to see Shimma had jumped into the air, seemingly waved goodbye. "That was a lot easier than that bird thing." Leo said laughing. Shelly smiled, "I think this was better anyway, she didn't want to cause people problems." she said while helping Minerva to her feet. The Fisherman seemed the happiest out of them all. Though he didn't say anything, Shelly could tell he was happy that Shimma would live. Minerva smiled as she was helped up by Freeds, "How will we explain this to the people who asked us to kill the beast?" Freeda asked. "Simply tell them that the beast had escaped us after we made sure to trap it somewhere where no one else would ever hear from it again" Minerva said with a smile as they all nodded. As the Fisherman took them back to shore, there was a strange sense of accomplishment. For three of the four mages on the boat, fighting was a natural instinct, something that happened whenever something stood in the way of there goals. But this time, they had used there ability's to help something. For Shelly, it was just a regular occurrence, as she didn't really take to fighting, though she was glad that the others had seen it her way. Once back at the dock, the group set off for the last target, a monster living in the forests near the capital of Lowindell. just as they left, Minerva got another feeling that they where being followed, but decided to ignore it, as she was sure that the 4 of them could handle anything. Next Chapter: ''Final Target: Warworld'' Category:Flame Lizard Category:Phantombeast Category:Storyline Category:Roleplay Category:Trinity: Breaker of Flame